They describe an algorithm to evolve graphs representing molecules,
trying to get them to approximate a desired molecule. They could get
it to evolve benzene, cubane and purine relatively reliably, and runs
for diazepam, morphine and cholesterol are underway. It seems possible
to improve the algorithm quite a bit and it looks eminently
parallelizable (definitely something to run on the net!).

About how to case an assembler with a bag of carbon. The fun thing
isn't necessarily the solutions, but that it is clear that Merkle
really seems to be moving towards a fairly complete assembler
model. It also fits in nicely with some ideas Henrik Öhrström and I
have discussed for our paper on nano-immune systems.

Neuropharmacology

Memory and the Brain: Unexpected Chemistries and a New Pharmacology by
Gary Lynch, Neurobiol. of Learning and Memory 70, 82-100 (1998)

A review article where Lynch deals with the substrate of LTP and
modulation of synaptic change. And of course he has a section about
ampakines, positive modulators of AMPA receptors that seem to increase
and prolong LTP. In experiments they improve many forms of memory,
both in rats and humans (especially older people). In rats they also
produce a faster performance on complex, well-learned tasks. Overall,
it seems like there is a big potential here.

[ Did you really think I could avoid finding a paper about memory
enhancing drugs? :-) ]

No articles, but two good websites:

Falling Into a Black Hole by Andrew Hamilton - animations of various
phenomena around black holes. Seems there are a lot of optics that
people get wrong, I learned that I was wrong about some phenonmena
during the approach.